David Cameron and George Osborne woke up to yet more critical headlines today over their decision to withdraw child benefit for higher-rate taxpayers.

The Daily Mail, in referring to the "growing backlash" over the cut, splashed on "Cameron says sorry to mums" and ran a trenchant leading article. Key sentence:

"What we are emphatically not prepared to accept without protest, however, is that the political class should yet again discriminate against one-earner families, through a tax and benefits system that has dealt them a lousy hand under successive governments over the decades."

"There is a bigger danger lurking here than simply an angry backlash from Middle Britain... Both Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne have worked hard to shake off the caricature Labour was so keen to create of them – that they were privileged young men for whom money had never been a concern and were, therefore, unable to relate to the day-to-day concerns of the voters.

This unhappy episode will revive the idea that they really are out of touch with the middle classes, a fact Labour has latched on to. If that seed takes root, then it could cost the Government dear in the difficult months ahead."

The Timeswas supportive of the government, however, pouring scorn on those who greeted the chancellor's "principled decision to cut child benefit for the wealthiest 15%" with "exclamations of anguish."